Govt. approves policy to sell vehicle registration data

The government of India has approved a policy to sell vehicle registration data. It would enable the government to monetise the database but also raises concerns about privacy and data protection.

According to the new policy, the data set will include 28 fields of data like the vehicle registration number, financing and insurance details. But, it will not include the vehicle owner's name. 

The policy states that the data can be shared with organizations that are registered in India, with majority stake controlled by an Indian resident or company. Organizations can purchase the data for one calendar year at any time and will receive four data dumps for each year. Those accessing the data will be required to provide a security audit report and non-compliance of data loss prevention or handling of sensitive information will result in termination of the contract with the person or agency concerned being liable for action under the IT Act.

All bulk data accessed by an organization shall be stored in servers or data centres residing in India. The data will be provided on an as-is-where-is basis and will be encrypted.

Commercial organizations and individuals will be charged Rs. 3 crore for 2019-20. Educational institutions can use the data for internal research purposes and will be charged a one-time fee of Rs. 5 lakh for the current fiscal year. The cost will be raised by 5% from FY2020-21 onwards.

Currently, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways collects data related to vehicle registrations and driving licenses. It is shared with the automobile industry, banks, and finance institutions among others.

Source: Hindustan Times